Abend
by Ceville
Summary: Of one thing was Madison O'Callaghan absoloutely, irrevocably certain. She was going to murder Sam Flynn for making her ride that damn bike with him to the arcade. OC/? Romance.
1. Prologue

**Abend - Prologue.  
By Ceville.**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing that you recognise. Tron belongs to somebody else.

**Author's Note: **Yes, I know, I've got a crap load of stories I should be working on, but having just seen the film yesterday, the plot bunnies just wouldn't back off. So I spat this out and decided to stick it up on here. It hasn't been checked over or anything, so the grammar may be iffy and the storyline so far even worse, but give it a try, yeah?  
Also - I'm still mulling over this will be a romance or not. Because let's face it, Quorra was adorable, and I like her with Sam. :)

* * *

_Abend:_ Short for "Abnormal end." An abend is an unexpected or abnormal end to a software process.

* * *

'_And in other news, ENCOM appears to have experienced difficulties with one of their latest, state of the art operating systems. Whether the leaking of the program onto the internet was intentional or otherwise, still remains to be seen.'_

Madison O'Callaghan grinned, shaking her head as she removed one hand from the steering wheel to change the radio channel. "Job well done, Sammy."

Her best friend of who-knows-how-many years had always been something of a loose cannon, unafraid to do things that most people would never even think of doing, it was helpful that the man had the intelligence quota of above genius-level. His skill with numbers and computers and anything technological and or mechanical had always impressed and annoyed her.

She herself had never been especially talented with mathematics. In fact, if the twenty-seven year old was being perfectly honest with herself, she was absoloutely dreadful when it came to maths. Nope, arithmetic had never been her calling in life. Whereas Sam had taken all of the extra math, computer and science classes, she'd been joining the English, history and poetry classes. Whereas he learned how to write and alter programs, she learned how to write and recite sonnets.

He'd been accepted into Caltech, she had settled for earning her undergraduate degree in Shakespearian Literature. And he'd proceeded to tease the mickey out of her for it.

'_Sam, can I have a soda?'_

'_To be or not to be, Maddie, that is the question.'_

'_That doesn't even make sense.'_

'_Immodest words admit of no defence, for want of decency is want of sense.'_

'_That's not even- No. Just shut your piehole and get me my drink, or I'll accidentally trip and dent your bike with that hammer there.'_

'_Yes, ma'm.'_

'_Thank you.'_

The two of them were as opposing and different as two people could be, in just about every way, and yet since the moment they'd both given a reluctant 'hi' to one another on the school bus all those years ago, they'd stuck to one another like glue.

That wasn't to say those years of being stuck to one another had been happy, oh no, a large portion of their high school years had been spent trying to outsmart the other and prove that either words were superior to numbers or numbers were superior to words.

Their teachers had been ever so glad to see them go, and on graduation day, the two of them had reluctantly come to a truce.

Though she'd be lying if she said they'd stopped competing since.

And she'd be lying if she tried to tell anybody she wasn't dreading seeing Sam anytime in the near future. He'd rub his latest scheming victory in her face, and then –in a _gentlemanly _and _sporting _manner- buy her a non-alcoholic drink to add further salt to her pride-related injury.

"Ass." She muttered good-naturedly, grinning slightly as she turned onto another road. She made an annoyed sound in her throat when a particularly fierce breeze blew her light-brown hair into her face, growling somewhat as she wound the window back up. "Darn…"

Fiddling with her hair, the young woman turned onto another, far more deserted street, coming to a stop outside what appeared to be, for all intent and purposes, a slightly-larger-than-usual garage. She pulled the keys from the ignition, grabbing her very beat-up messenger bag and jacket as she got out of the car; shutting the door of bomb-car as she shrugged on her jacket.

Glancing around with hazel-green eyes, Maddie saw no motorbike, and frowned with her hands on her hips. "Well, looks like I'm waiting for the big lug then."

Moments later, the sound of an engine made her turn, and she smiled as she saw what she called a death-trap pull up nearby, a tall figure climbing off of the machine. He looked at her, excitement barely contained in his expression, and then thrust his arms out wide; lunging forward to lift her off her feet and into a hug that her spine and ribs protested to be far too tight. "Haha, I did it, Maddie!"

"I know. I heard on the radio." She squeaked out, arms bound to her sides. "I can't breathe, doofus."

"Oh, sorry." He put her down, and she straightened herself to her average five-foot-five height, rearranging her shirt and jacket with a look of mock annoyance to her friend. "Thanks for the parachute."

She followed him as he walked the bike inside, looking around with suspicious eyes. "No problem… But Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Where is it?" They came to a stop inside his garage-slash-apartment, and she groaned when he turned to grin at her innocently. "Aww, Sam! That was my brother's! Do you know how annoyed he's going to be with me when I tell him that the very expensive parachute he needs to use in two days has mysteriously disappeared after I borrowed it?"

He held a hand up, thumb and index finger an inch or so away from each other. "This much?"

"Sam!"

Both hands came up, palms open and fingers wide, and he made his way over to the fridge. "I know, I know. I'm sorry, but I kind of hit a… hard place, and then the cops got me and then they… confiscated your brother's parachute."

"_What?_" The surprised shriek escaped her, though she was momentarily distracted when he took a can of soda from the appliance. "I'll have a Pepsi, thanks." He threw one to her and she fumbled with it before catching it. "You got caught by the cops, Sammy? How?"

"I told you, the jump didn't go as planned and they showed up a little earlier than I expected." He took a sip from his can, lifting an arm to gaze at the watch there. "Four minutes and thirty two seconds earlier than I expected."

She stared, and then shook her head. "Okay, I'm not even going to bother asking how you calculated their arrival time, but _what the hell_!" He grinned at her slowly and she glared. "What?"

"Nothing." He drawled, knowing full well the evasion would irk her further. "But if you recall, I asked you to come along and help. You refused."

"I've told you once, I'll tell you again; I'll help with the background stuff for your annual 'visits'-" She held her hands up, fingers bent into 'bunny ears' as she spoke. "-but I'm not getting actually involved. I can't afford to have a criminal record; the university'd boot my butt out onto sidewalk if anything like that ever happened."

"Chicken."

"Don't call me that."

He started clucking like a chicken and she glared.

"Stop it."

He continued.

"Cut it out!"

The clearing of a throat made the two of them jump, and Maddie felt her face flush when she finally noticed the amused man standing across from the coffee table. Sam's demeanour immediately changed, becoming exasperated and closed off, and he flopped down onto the lounge with a sigh.

Maddie looked between the two of them. She recognised Alan Bradley, since he'd practically been Sam's surrogate father over the years, but she'd never really gotten to know him all that well. Biting her lip, she gestured over her shoulder with a hand; thumb pointing at her car. "You know, I think I left something in my car, I'll just, uh, go get it now."

Sending a reassuring look to her friend, she turned and walked back outside, getting into her car with a sigh. Whatever conversation the two men had to have, it had nothing to do with her, not really, and she didn't want to intrude.

So she settled down, pushed the car seat back a bit so she could lie down, and turned on the radio.

_Might as well try and get a little shut-eye while they talk… _She thought sleepily, slowly drifting off.

* * *

**Author's Note: **There, it's done. Let me know what you thought, yeah? And what you think of Maddie.  
Press the button and leave a review - pleaseandthankyou.


	2. Chapter One

**Abend - Chapter One.  
By Ceville.**

**Disclaimer: **I still don't own anything, except for Madison.**  
**

**Author's Note: **I should probably be waiting a few days to post this, but I can't help myself. This chapter is mostly just for some background information on how the two met, and to fill up the extra space I had open for the chapter, haha. Anyways, I hope you like it.

Also - if there's anybody skilled and/or willing to beta this story, I'd really appreciate it.  
Also also - does anybody happen to know where I can find a script for the movie? If not, does anybody remember some of the wording from the scenes where Sam leaves the Grid-Flynn's-Arcade and gets captured by the flying vehicle thingy. Oh, and what those flying vehicles are called?  
Sorry about asking, just needed some help with some things!

* * *

_A strange thing, how frightening the bright, sunflower-yellow behemoth was when one was barely taller than four-foot-seven. The cheery flowers and smiley-faces painted on the side of the gargantuan machine did nothing to dissuade the nervousness Maddie felt, and she gulped, hands clutching the strap of her messenger bag so tightly the knuckles appeared ready about to pop out of her skin. The bag itself was far too large for her, and the extra weight did nothing to help her stay standing, especially with her knees knocking together the way they were._

_When the middle-school bus doors opened with a strangely frightening whoosh of air, children began climbing up the steps, some laughing and chattering, some staying behind with worried expressions, and some appearing as if they were completely and utterly bored with the world in which they lived._

_She could feel herself shaking, even as she tried to sum up whatever remnants of courage she had rummaged up earlier that morning before leaving the house. "I can do this…" She murmured under her breath, nodding jerkily as she headed towards the steps. "I can do this, I'm twelve years old, I'm not a little kid anymore…"_

_Stepping up one of the steps, Maddie cursed her short stature, even for one of her age, and kept her head lowered; messy brown hair hiding her face as she shuffled her feet and tried to find a seat. Peeking up through her fringe, her eyes darted around the place, and she gulped again upon seeing every seat filled._

_Her first day of middle school and she couldn't even manage to find a seat on the bus. Her head jerked up suddenly, vision honing in on a seat towards the back of the bus. A boy sat there, with a messy mop of curly brown hair on his head and shadowed, eerily blue eyes that were gazing out of the window. He had his bag up on the seat, but seeing no other option, she sucked up her nerves and edged over; mouth opening and closing a few times as she tried to speak._

_His eyes flickered over to her and she felt her face flushing for no apparent reason. "I, uh, I mean, to say…" She trailed off, wringing the satchel strap between her hands like a dishcloth._

_He sighed and then moved his bag to the floor near his feet. She stared with wide eyes, and then an even wider grin slowly spread across her face; revealing a gap one or two teeth aside from her two front teeth. Maddie sat down, shifting around to get comfortable, and smoothed out her slightly wrinkled shirt._

_The bus doors shut, and the driver pulled out onto road; children going on with their own business. She bit her lip, fiddling with a braided bracelet hanging from her scrawny left wrist. "Um… Thank you!" She blurted, looking at him quickly. "For letting me sit down. There were no other seats and-and thank you!"_

_He looked at her, and then back out the window, giving a small nod._

_There were a few more moments of silence, and Maddie held her hand up, pushing it in front of him with a nervous, hopeful smile. "I'm Maddie."_

_He reluctantly shook her hand, meeting her hazel eyes. "Sam."_

_Smiling, she nodded, swinging her legs back and forth, before her gaze was drawn to the book in his lap. She craned her neck, eyebrows furrowed as she read the cover. It looked like an advanced mathematics book and her nose scrunched up. "Eww…"_

_Sam looked down at the book and then back at her, his own eyebrows furrowed as he frowned. "What?"_

_The girl pointed. "Maths."_

"_Yeah, what's 'eww' about it?" He mocked her voice, his own unbroken voice reaching up a few more octaves as he repeated the word she'd spoken seconds earlier._

"_It's just eww." She shook her head. "I don't like numbers. I like words." She reached into her own satchel, pulling out a book of poems. "Stuff like this."_

_He scoffed, grinning wryly. "Oh yeah, because boring stuff like that's better than maths."_

_She scowled, cheeks flushing bright red in anger. "Well-well at least this is classical and cultured!"_

"_You can't do anything with words."_

"_Can too!"_

"_Like what?"_

"_Like-like writing stories! Or poems, or plays! The only thing you can do with numbers is make annoying puzzles and problems." _

"_Not true!"_

"_Is too true!"_

_They glared at one another, greeny-brown on bright-blue, and then Maddie started to giggle; unsure as to why she was even laughing. And then Sam was cracking a grin, laughing as well. Their laughter was lost amongst the noise of the bus, but the two of them kept going; nerves and goodness knows what else making their spat seem funnier than it had been in reality._

"_Maddie." The voice was deep and coming from somewhere seemingly outside of the bus. "Mads, wake up." _

_Everything was shaking and trembling and soon, the memory faded away into nothingness.  
_

* * *

"Earthquake!" Madison bolted upright, her forehead colliding with something. She groaned in pain, her own sounds echoed by those of Sam, who was bending over with his hand on the dashboard for support. She gasped, holding a hand to her mouth as the other was pressed to her forehead. "Ugh, sorry, Sammy."

"Don't worry about it." He grinned weakly, holding his nose as he stared down at her. "Alan's already gone, it's safe to come back inside." She tilted her head, yawning quietly. "Come on, it's cold out here." He held a hand out and she took it, letting herself be pulled to her feet and towards the house. "You having a nightmare or something?"

She shook her head, shivering as a particularly cold breeze blew past. "Nah, dreaming 'bout when we were younger." Grinning, she ran a hand through her hair. "Remember 'buszilla'?"

"That creepy bus with the creepy face painted on the side from middle school?"

She laughed, nodding. "That's the one."

Same gestured inside, mocking a gentlemanly bow and she rolled her eyes, shoving the taller man as she stepped inside. "Hey! That's not nice!"

"Neither's your face." She quipped, walking over to flop down on the lounge with a grin. It faded when she saw his expression, eyebrows furrowing together as the woman sat up properly. "What's wrong?" He shook his head, pacing around, and Maddie frowned. "Samuel Flynn, I've known you since before I had all of my grown-up teeth, I can tell when something's bothering you, so spit it out!"

He sighed, walking over to flop down beside her, and his little dog Marvin swerved under the table; leaping up onto the empty space at the end of the lounge with a content little huff. "Alan… he said some stuff."

She perked an eyebrow, gesturing for him to continue. "And this stuff was…?"

"Just stuff." He stammered, avoiding her gaze. She pursed her lips, staring at him through narrowed eyes, and when his own eyes darted over to her for a second, she smacked him on the arm; ignoring his slight yelp. "What was that for?"

"For lying to me! Now tell me what he said, nitwit!"

His expression hardened and he glared in the opposite direction. "It was about my dad."

Madison's eyes softened, and she looked down at her hands. Kevin Flynn was a touchy subject for the twenty-seven year old sitting beside her, and for good reason. She'd never been able to completely understand, since her own parents were probably playing 'go fish' at home with her younger sister and the family cat, but she'd been with him enough to know how much it still cut him to hear his father's name. "Sam…" She placed a hand on his arm, sighing.

He shook his head, squeezing her hand. "Don't worry about it, Maddie. It's all good."

"Obviously not." She spoke wryly, shaking her head. "What did he say, Sam?"

"He-he said he got a page last night. And… that was it from my dad's old office at the arcade."

"The arcade…?" She murmured, eyes narrowed again. "But that place has been shut down for years. Nobody goes in anymore."

"I know, that's what I said. But he thinks it's worth checking out. He thinks my dad might be there, or some sort of clue might be there, leading us to where he is." Sam laughed mirthlessly. "Like hell that'd ever happen. Dad's gone, he left, and it's been years. He's probably dead."

She bit her lip, running a hand through her hair. "But… Do you think it might be worth looking into?" He looked at her and she flinched at the anger still evident on his face. "Don't look at me like that! I'm just trying to help you!"

"I know, I know that, but it's just…"

"Just what?"

"What if it's nothing? What if some stupid kid found something in dad's office and paged him for the heck of it? I don't want to get there and then be disappointed. Again."

"You never know until you try, Sammy. That might be true. It might be nothing. But what if it's not? What if you find something about your dad there? Isn't that worth looking into it? Some answers?"

He sighed, staring at the keys on the coffee table, and picked them up; the two of them staring at what they knew to be the arcade key. "Would you come with me, if-_if_ I go?"

She nodded immediately, no hesitation in her actions. "Of course I will. If you went without me, I'd be disappointed, buddy boy."

He grinned, standing up, and –much to her annoyance- ruffled her already thoroughly mussed hair. "Well come on then, let's go."

Maddie stood up, brushing her clothes off, and though she walked after him; the young woman froze when she saw him wheeling his bike out. "Oh no, no way, Sammy."

"Come on, stop being such a baby. I ride this thing all the time, it's perfectly safe!"

"Perfectly safe my left foot!" She snapped, glaring at the death-trap. "I'm not getting on that thing, and there's _nothing _you can do to make me!"

His eyebrows shot up, and when he grinned slowly, Madison knew those hadn't been the best words to use.

Not at all.

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**Author's Note: **There, another chapter. I hope you guys liked it - leave a review and let me know what you think, yeah? :D


	3. Chapter Two

Abend - Chapter Two.

**Author's Note:** Okee dokeely, well here's the next chapter. It's a teeny-tiny bit longer then the last one, so that's a plus, right?  
Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter as well.

Also - I'd like to say a big thank you to xXxCastielxXx, without your help with the scene dialogue and stuff, I would've been screwed. So thanks!

* * *

"I am going to _murder _you, Samuel Flynn!" Madison shouted, voice losing some of its shrillness on the wind as she clung to the middle of the very person she was yelling at. "I swear to all that is holy and mighty in this world, I am going to _murder _you for making me ride this death trap!"

His laughter only served to further her annoyance, and she manoeuvred her hand around to a smooth spot on his shirt under his leather jacket; pinching his side viciously. He yelped, and the bike swerved for a few moments before he righted it again; the two of them glad for the fact that the streets they were travelling on were deserted. "What the hell, Maddie?" He shouted back over his shoulder.

She grinned sheepishly, shrugging apologetically, though he couldn't see. "Sorry!" He shook his head and returned his focus to the road. Maddie sighed under her breath, leaning her head on her friend's broad back, inbetween his shoulders. There had been a time, a brief time, during their awkward teenage years where she'd been a few inches taller than him. That had lasted for a few months, and then a growth spurt had hit and he was pushing six foot. By the time they'd graduated he was touching six-foot-two and she had to crane her neck up to meet his gaze.

He'd had fun teasing her with _that _too. "Ass…" She muttered affectionately, tightening her grip around his midsection. She leaned up when they began slowing down, looking over his shoulder as he stopped. She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at the sight of the old arcade. They' spent all of their time there when they were younger, and though she'd never admit it, Sam had been so much better at all of the games inside.

"Come on." He climbed off, helping her off moments afterwards, and looked up at the building. "Haven't been here for a while."

She smiled reassuringly, patting his arm, and then headed towards the entrance; hearing his steps behind her. "Got the keys?" He held them up, and she stepped away from the door as he unlocked and opened it; leaning over to apprehensively squint inside. She spun around. "Got any-" Light shone into her face, momentarily blinding her as she flinched and spluttered; glaring aimlessly when he laughed. "Oh, very funny, wise guy."

"I thought so. " He waggled his eyebrows and then stepped inside, heading straight for what she could barely make out as a fuse box, thanks to the black dots marring her vision. She waited patiently for him to fiddle around, jumping slightly when the game machines and lights turned on; grinning giddily as music started to play. "Memories, huh?"

She nodded, scurrying inside, and spun around on her heel to look around the place. "Loads and loads of memories…" She murmured, head spinning to the side as he headed off to a doorway. "Where you going?"

"Going to check the place out." He stopped, turning his body slightly to look at her flatly. "Don't break anything."

"Bugger off."

"Language, Ms O'Callaghan."

"Don't go there, Sammy Pottymouth."

He blew a raspberry and then exited the room, while she continued walking through the aisles; running her fingers over the controls and buttons as she gazed at all of the games.

It was strange, seeing them again. At the time of the arcade's construction, they'd been cutting edge. State of the art, top-of-the-line video games that children had begged their parents to come play; spending every quarter and spare bits of change or pocket money they could get their paws on.

Now they were covered in spider webs and dust, and for some reason the nostalgia paired with their obvious lack of use made her feel sad.

They were like the old toys, hidden away under a bed in a shoe box in favour for the new ones.

It reminded her of Jesse from Toy Story.

Backing away, Maddie yelped in surprise, slamming into something. She flailed a bit, only regaining her balance when two large hands landed on her shoulders to steady her. She looked up, grinning sheepishly at a bemused-looking Sam. "Alright there, twinkle-toes?"

"Yep." She chirped, saluting cheekily.

He smirked down at her and then turned his head, walking a few steps to stop in the middle aisle.

"What-" Her words froze in her throat, staring at the machine a few metres ahead of them.

_TRON_

The game had been one of their favourites, before his father's disappearance had eventually caused the arcade to shut down. Alan Bradley had been busy trying to salvage ENCOM and care for Sam, keeping an arcade open hadn't been on his list of priorities, so the place had been shut down a few years after Kevin Flynn disappeared.

Sam hadn't been himself for weeks afterwards, and she'd been left to try and pick up all of the pieces. Which hadn't been a problem, he was her best friend after-all, but seeing one's best friend totally withdraw into themselves and stop eating? That'd been the problem.

Sam's personality, so far she had discovered, was by nature a friendly one. Sure, he had his cocky moments, and the two of them occasionally bashed heads together, but his stunts and really bad times all coincided with events related to his father. Whenever there were problems, it had something to do with his father. Whether it happened around his anniversary, or some news program did an article on Kevin Flynn, or ENCOM did something that dishonoured the man's memory.

That was why the two of them hated what ENCOM had become, for two related but different reasons. Sam hated it because it was ruining everything his father ever worked for. Madison hated it because it turned her best friend into a wreck.

It was a part of the reason why she'd actually consented to helping him with his annual pranks on the company. It was their way of getting back at the higher-ups, their way of pulling them down a peg or two.

That, and it was fun.

Feeling on edge, Maddie tiptoed behind him, watching and waiting as he inserted a quarter into the machine; only for it to be pushed back out and fall to the floor. When he crouched to pick it up, he paused and she leaned over to try and see what he was looking at. "What're those?" She asked curiously, staring at the deep, curved indents on the ground.

"I think…" He trailed off, obviously thinking about something as he straightened and gently pushed her back a few steps; handing her the torch before moving forward to push the machine to the side. Once it'd been moved around, he turned back around with a small smile and she placed the torch into his open hand. "Where do you think this goes?"

"Beats me." She stepped through once he'd pulled the rusted door open, glancing around with a wrinkled nose. "But it smells like my great aunt Ida's closet."

Chuckling, he nudged her in the back, shining the torch over the top of her head as they walked down a hall, turning to a narrow stairway; metal steps rusted and to Madison's eyes, rather unstable. "Go on, what are you waiting for, Maddie?"

"I'm not going down those." She stepped to the side, staring up at him with arms folded stubbornly.

"Mads…"

"No. Don't 'Mads', me." Her voice deepened as she copied his voice. "Those things look like they're older than us. You made me help you with your little stunt, you made me go on that bike of yours, but I'm not going down those stairs." She suddenly jumped back, pointing at him. "And don't you dare pick me up again! Slinging me over your shoulder like a caveman…" She rolled her eyes. "That got me on the bike, but I'm ready this time, you won't be able to get me down-whoa!"

He'd picked her up again, hoisted over one shoulder as he climbed down the stairs.

"Damn it Sam!" She scolded, trying to lift her head back up. "I'm not a sack of potatoes; you can't carry me around like this!"

"Maddie, I hate to pop your hot air-filled bubble, but look where you are now."

"Shut up." Was her mature and ever-so-grown-up reply.

When he finally came to a stop and put her down, he mockingly patted her head. "There. See, you're alive!"

"Oh, bite me." They came to another door, and when he opened it, the two of them glanced at one another. "Wow…" She whispered, looking into the room that one of the world's greatest technological minds had done all of his work in. "Did you know this was back here?"

"I had no idea." He murmured back, stepping inside.

The two of them looked around, though Sam's focus was drawn towards the desk beneath a small window, hers was drawn to all of the miscellaneous stuff stashed around the place. It was like a techie museum, and though she was by no means a techie, it still looked interesting as anything she'd ever seen before. She could hear him muttering to himself, though when a loud sound came from behind, she spun around to look, shaking her head as she watched him sit down and begin typing something.

_Typical_.

Maddie blinked, squinting in the dark as she stepped towards what appeared to be some sort of weird telescope-tripod thing. "Hey Sam...?" She spoke over her shoulder, taking his absent-minded 'hmm?' as a go ahead to keep speaking. "What do you think this thing is?"

"I'unno." He was obviously too wrapped in what he was doing, so she rolled her eyes, and throwing her hands up in exasperation, turned around to see what was so amazing that he practically ignore her over it.

He was sitting at what looked like a desk, but which had some sort of touch-screen built in. Nothing so impressive in their day and age, but the fact that it was covered in dust and had been here for at least twenty years was a testament to just how much of a genius Kevin Flynn had been. He'd thought of things that were only just being implemented recently, he'd created a basis for what was becoming modern technology.

And the idiots that Alan Bradley had to work with on the board at ENCOM were taking all of the credit.

"Whoa…" She watched him type, eyebrows furrowing as her eyes honed in on the word 'operate' and 'laser'. "Sam, I don't think that's such a good-" It was too late, he'd already shrugged and pressed the 'yes' button. Moments later, the sounds of a machine turning on reverberated around the room; something whirring loudly. "That doesn't sound good."

Moments later, some sort of bright light hit them, and Maddie found herself losing her balance; her body feeling like it was being put through a roller-coaster ride after having scarfed down an eight course meal.

"What the-" The young woman spun around, eyes widening as she took in the now-empty room. "Where's everything gone?" She gestured at the room with an arm, panic beginning to set in. "Sam, where's all the stuff gone?" She scowled, turning back to him as he stood; apparently as confused as she was. She growled and punched him in the arm.

"Ow! Stop hitting me!" He snapped.

"Stop being such a nitwit! I told you not to press that button! Who presses the 'yes' button when a computer asks if you want to operate a laser? I thought you were supposed to be a genius!"

"Well how was I supposed to know there was an _actual _laser?"

"I was trying to point it out to you but you were too busy exchanging pleasantries with the computer!" They glared at one another, and then almost simultaneously, the two of them sighed, looking away from one another. "Sorry, Sammy…"

"Nah, not your fault. I probably should've listened."

"Yeah, well, I shouldn't have called you a nitwit."

"Not much of an apology, but I'll take what I can get." He smiled cheekily, though she could see the strain behind it. She didn't blame him, something wacky was going on, and the two of them had to try and figure out exactly what it was. "Let's go see what's going on, hey?"

"Okay… But if someone tries to kill us, you're my shield."

As they walked up the stairs, he scoffed. "Why am I the shield?"

She shrugged. "You're bigger than me."

"Right, that really makes sense, Mads."

"It makes perfect sense, you just don't-" She stopped suddenly, and he looked at her questioningly.

"What?"

"There was music playing before we came down, it was still playing while we were down there."

Realisation dawned on his face and his eyebrows furrowed. "So where's it gone?"

"Maybe somebody just turned it off?" She offered hopefully, waiting while he pushed the door at the end of the hall open, which should have revealed a room full of arcade games. What met their eyes, was instead an empty room. "Okay, what the crap?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** There ya go! I hope you guys liked it.  
Leave a review, let me know what you thought.

Also, I'm still mulling over pairings. Maddie with Sam, Quorra with Sam, Maddie with Castor, Maddie with Rinzler...  
I'm unsure. So could you guys let me know which pairings you'd really like to see in future? That'd be awesome, thanks.


	4. Chapter Three

**Abend - Chapter Three.  
By Ceville.**

**Disclaimer: **If you saw it in the movie, chances are I don't own it.

**Author's Note: **And here's another chapter~  
I'm really into this story, and it's really weird. Kinda freaking me out. :/  
But that's good news for you guys, right?

Thanks to everybody who voted, by the way, the tally currently looks like this:

**Sam/Maddie - **13.**  
Rinzler/Maddie - **11.**  
Castor/Maddie - **2**.  
Sam/Quorra** - 3.

And funnily enough, somebody voted for Maddie/Quorra. As amusing as it sounds (I'll admit to giggling when I read the review) that won't be happening in this story.  
Sorry, reviewer.  
It's still pretty close, if you haven't voted for the pairing you want, try and do it soon please, it'll change the way the story goes. :)

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Madison's mouth opened, then shut, then opened, then shut again. She looked around with pursed lips, and then looked at Sam, who looked just as confused as her. Holding a hand up, she closed her eyes tightly. "Okay, just making sure here, but… The machines are gone, right? You're seeing that too? I'm not crazy?"

"Oh, you're crazy, Mads." He spoke slowly, quietly as blue eyes darted around the empty space before them. "But the machines are gone."

"Great." She looked around, throwing her arms out. "The arcade, the musical, chock-a-block full of video games arcade we came into, is suddenly empty." She glared at him half-heartedly. "I told you not to press that button."

"Yes, I know, you told me not to press that button. But I pressed it. A few minutes ago." He grabbed her arm gently, heading for the exit. "Let's just go home."

"Yours or mine?" She questioned incredulously. "Sam, we can't just _go home. _You pressed the button and now this place has changed, how do you think we should-"

"Maddie."

She was still looking around the arcade, continuing with her rant. "We can't just leave, I mean look at the place!"

"Maddie."

"It's like a ghost building or something!"

"_Maddie!_" A hand landed on her head, another snaking under her chin, long fingers grasping her chin to turn her head; allowing her jaw to drop as she looked around.

"Oh hell no." She muttered, disbelief lacing her tone and seeping into her expression. "Oh _hell _no!" What had been a beaten-up old road, surrounded by beaten-up buildings was now brand new, made of some strange sort of dark metal with strips of pale blue light zigzagging around the place. "We've stepped into some sort of late-night sci-fi television program."

He didn't seem to appreciate the sentiment, his body tense and rigid. "We've got to get out of here." He grabbed her hand, running down onto the strange road, stopping as they looked back at the arcade. The outside still had 'Flynn's Arcade' sprawled across the space above the door, but it was all completely new, nothing was run down or beaten-up anymore. The surrounding buildings were far higher than they'd been before, resembling skyscrapers now.

"What the…" Maddie's head spun around wildly, hair flipping and turning as she took in their surroundings. "Sam, where the heck are we?" She looked at him, taking in the furrow to his brow and the thin frown on his face. "Sam…?"

"I-I have an idea." He shook his head, eyes whipping around just as her own had; though his head movements weren't anywhere near as erratic as hers had been. "I have a hunch. But it's not possible, I mean… He talked about it, but I never thought it was _actually_…"

"Samuel!"

"The Grid!" He burst, avoiding her gaze.

"The Grid…?" She repeated, edging around into his path of vision. "Sam, what's the Grid?"

"Nothing." At her incredulous expression, he rolled his eyes, gesturing around them with both arms. "This. Around us, this is the Grid. But it can't be real!"

"Why not?"

"Because it was just a story. A bedtime story my dad used to tell me. Or at least… I thought it was a bedtime story." He brought a hand to his face, rubbing across his mouth; looking thoroughly vexed. "He used to tell me that he'd created or discovered this new world, this virtual world, called the Grid. Full of programs that walked and talked and thought and _lived_. Digital, but real."

"But how? That kind of technology… And that long ago?" She shook her head. "I'm nowhere near as 'tech savvy' as you, but even I know we're nowhere near making that kind of stuff." Slowly, she shrugged. "Then again… He _was _a genius."

"Is a genius." He interjected shortly.

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I know, it's just-" He stopped, turning his head, and when she followed his gaze; their eyes simultaneously widened.

There was a dark shape in the air, large and hulking, and moving towards them; the strange light lines webbed around it, only orange instead of light blue. "Sam…" She started, voice trembling.

He grabbed her hand again, shaking his head as he began to back away. "This can't be happening…" He murmured faintly, holding his free hand up near his eyes to stare up. The ground began shaking, and Maddie yelped in surprise when the hexagonal panel beneath them began to move up; tugging him back when he fumbled for balance on the edge. "Yeah, it's happening."

"Really?" She snapped sardonically, tone shaky. "We're being singled out by a road and a floating lego block! How can that be happening?"

"I don't know!" He glared up at the 'lego block', stepping in front of her when the floor panel of the machine levelled with the pillar they stood on. A strangely dressed man stepped forward, his clothing futuristic and riddled with the glowing orange lines that adorned the vehicle he frequented.

"This program has no disk; another stray." His voice was distorted, sounding as if it had been muddled with via some sort of sound program.

'_Oh, that does not sound good…' _The guards, for that's what they seemed to be, moved forward to grab the two of them.

"Hey, we're not programs!" Sam snapped, struggling against the guard and glaring at the one who grabbed Maddie. "Don't touch her!" They were shoved towards the line of people, into to empty spaces above strangely glowing spots. She jumped when some sort of casing slid up and over their feet; restricting their movement completely. "He actually did it…" He murmured faintly, looking around as they flew through the air; disbelief lacing his tone. "I'm on the Grid." Though their feet were trapped, their arms were not, and she nudged him in the side with her elbow. "_We're _on the Grid, sorry." He turned to the man next to him and began to question him, while Maddie began looking around.

Two people down from her, mumbling reached her ears, and she frowned as she moved her head to try and see who was speaking. It was a thoroughly frightened looking man, sweating with his head lowered. "Not the games…" He repeated, over and over and over again.

Sam seemed to have noticed and he leant around her, nodding to the guy as he spoke to the man next to her. "What's his problem?"

Maddie, shamefully, couldn't stop herself from yelping and jerking away when the hooded man turned his face; revealing half of a face, the edges seemingly pixelated and eaten away. "Holy crap on a cracker…" She muttered, swallowing heavily and smiling uneasily when the man her mind had now dubbed as 'Half-Face' growled at her as well. "Nice, Sammy, you annoyed the tough looking one."

His answer to her whispered hiss, whatever it may have been, was interrupted as they landed; her latching onto his arm with one small hand as the surface beneath their encased feet shook and trembled. The guards moved away from their spots at each end of the machine, taking strangely mechanical steps towards the end of the line.

One of them held some sort of device out, pointing it at the first person they came to, and when the crazy man's mumblings increased, accompanied by choked little sobs; Maddie found herself wanting to join in.

She wasn't scared.

Oh no.

She was ready to freaking _wet herself_.

They'd been transported to some strange, digital world by some strange laser in an abandoned office they'd discovered inside an abandoned arcade. They'd been kidnapped by futurama-wannabes and now, according to the behaviour of their fellow 'detainees', it appeared that they were about to get into even more trouble.

She blamed Sam.

"Sam!" She hissed quietly, eyes zeroed in on the gradually incoming guard.

"Rectify." The guard spoke to one of the men, moving down the line only to say something different to another man. "Games."

"Yeah?" He whispered back.

"_I told you not to press that button_!"

He was again interrupted, this time by the 'Mumbler', whose mumblings became loud gasps and broken sobs as he was told 'games' by the guard. When the guard came to stop in front of Maddie, she moved backwards, grip tightening on Sam's arm. "Look, I know you probably get this a lot, but there's been a big mistake." Her friend started, the two of them watching with wide eyes as the Mumbler broke away, shouting out for them to 'erase him' before throwing himself over the edge of the platform they stood on.

A hand came to slap over her mouth, Maddie trembling as she watched with wide eyes. She barely registered when the two of them were told 'games', though her attention was taken when one of the guards grabbed Sam, trying to pull him away from the machine and –more importantly- away from her. "Whoa, hey!" He tried to break away from them, yanking his arms away. "No, wait! Wait! Madison!"

"Sam!" She was grabbed moments later, the two of them being pushed and pulled towards more hexagon-shaped panels on the ground. "Sam, where are they taking us?"

"I don't know, I don't know!"

They were strapped to the panels, their feet once again trapped, and she stared at her friend with wide, frightened eyes. "No, let me go!" She cried, trying, and failing, to get her feet free. Then she was falling and screaming and falling.

Eyelids tightly squeezed together, Maddie frowned when the sensation of falling –of falling freaking fast- abated; opening one eye to peek around. She jumped, startled when she found herself surrounded by four beautiful women.

Beautiful, spooky women.

Beautiful, spooky women who were staring at her with their non-blinking, spooky eyes.

"Uh… Hi?" She tried, grinning weakly. "Can I help y-whoa!" They'd stepped far closer than she was comfortable with, lifting one hand each to press a finger against her clothes, and she watched in disbelief as her clothes were peeled away from her body like the skin of a banana; leaving her in her mismatching underwear.

If there was something she _really _hadn't been expecting to encounter on the little trip to the arcade, it was standing in front of four creepy women in her skivvies. Especially not her rather old and ratty, but extremely comfortable skivvies.

They began to back away, taking stiff, almost robotic steps towards the walls; all the while she was trying to cover herself up. They turned, racks of some sort of armour opening out from the wall, and then began to pick out separate pieces; returning to place it on her.

Madison watched, stuck with the same wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights expression, as the armour attached itself to her limbs and body, a strange synthetic fabric stretching out to cover her person. Once it was finished, she was left standing in an outfit far tighter and revealing then she was used to.

It was skin-tight, fitting to her like a glove, with a sleeveless tunic-like upper garment, leggings and highly heeled boots. Gloves covered her arms, stopping halfway between her shoulders and elbows and covering every finger save for the indexes and thumbs. Lines just like those on the streets and guards zigzagged on the futuristic armour, glowing a light, iridescent blue.

One of the women walked around to her back, lifting up something before placing it onto her back. Maddie jolted, a shiver running up and down her spine; like a cold breeze had blown onto the back of her neck.

They began backing away again, and she looked around wildly, trying to figure out what was going on. "Hey! Hey, wait a minute, why am I dressed like this?" They didn't answer, backing into spaces on the wall, strange panels shooting out to cover them. "What am I supposed to do?"

One of them, completely stunning with dark hair and caramel-coloured skin, smirked, tilting her head to the side; never ever blinking. "Survive." And then she was 'offline', stuck in the wall.

Maddie stared, jaw hanging, and then she growled under her breath. "Survive? Survive? What the crap does that even mean? What am I supposed to surviveeee!" She screamed out the last syllable, the panel beneath her feet once again dropping down to fall.

When she came to a stop, she was in some sort of boxed off room; the space in front of her completely open. And filled with a shouting, raucous crowd.

She swallowed, beginning to tremble once again. "I don't like this…" She muttered, shaking her head over and over. "I really don't like this. Oh, I _really_, really don't like this."

A robotic voice boomed around, heard even over the abrasive chants of the crowd. "All combatants, prepare for disc wars." The ground beneath her began moving once again, and the boxed off room disappeared; leaving her in some sort of giant glass case. "Level 7."

"Level what…?" She muttered, looking around for the voice; gulping when she saw another person standing a few metres across from her. It was another woman, another beautiful woman, and she reached towards her back; pulling a disc from her back. Some sort of helmet snapped into place, and Maddie felt herself becoming nervous once again when the other female shifted into what resembled a fighting stance. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh _crap_!"

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**Author's Note: **There. All done!  
Leave a review and let me know what you think, yeah? :D


	5. Chapter Four

**Abend - Chapter Four.  
By Ceville.**

**Disclaimer: **You know the drill. I own nothing. And there's not a darn thing I can do about it.

**Author's Note: **Gahh, I'm so sorry about being so late with this update. I've been busy with university applications and filling out tax file number papers.  
The horror of finding one's first job.  
I'm a bit iffy about this chapter, it just doesn't sit with me right, but I hope you guys will like it nonetheless!

Also, a big thank you to everybody who reviewed and PMed me their pairing votes! The tally now looks like this:

**Sam/Maddie - **18.**  
Rinzler/Maddie - **17.

This chapter will be **THE LAST CHANCE YOU HAVE TO VOTE ON THE PAIRINGS **if you haven't already done so.  
So make sure you review and let me know. It'll change the direction the story takes, after-all.

ALSO - and this is the last thing, I swear!- I've put up a link to a quick little picture I did of Maddie. In case any of you are interested. ;D**  
**

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Maddie began backing away, waving her hands frantically back and forth in front of her.

"No, no, I'm not fighting you. I don't do fighting." Her words didn't appear to be having any effect on her 'opponent', who lifted the arm holding the disc. "Don't throw it! Don't you dare throw that!"

Moments, no, seconds later, the disc was expertly thrown and Maddie found herself dropping to the floor like a tonne of bricks; hands over her head as she squeezed her eyes shut. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't possible that any of this was happening.

She was just as post-grad student working on her Ph.D. She never played sports or did any excessive exercise. She'd certainly never fought anybody, and certainly not with strange glowing discs in a glass arena.

The girl clambered to her feet, boots slipping slightly on the smooth surface beneath her as the woman across from her caught her disc. Hair frizzy and wild, she pushed it from her eyes, reaching behind her to blindly fumble around for the weapon she assumed had been given to her. She felt her fingers brush against something cold, something that was almost vibrating, and she grasped it as carefully as she could, pulling her arm back down to stare at the glowing blue disc in her hands.

"I don't know what to do with this!" She growled, shaking the disc around, thoroughly frustrated with her current circumstances. "I don't know how to throw this; I can't even throw a Frisbee properly!"

It was true. Sam had tried time and time again to teach her the 'finer arts' of sport. From football to baseball to basketball and anything and everything inbetween. She'd failed terribly at them all, not out of clumsiness or klutziness but out of a sheer disinterest and sense of boredom. What was the point of throwing or hitting balls around the place, when she had homework to finish, or a book to read, or a thesis to write up?

There hadn't been one. So she hadn't bothered, and he'd eventually given up. She could remember the final attempt quite clearly.

"_Now just hold it like this-" Seventeen year-old Sam pushed the Frisbee into her hand, arranging her fingers and palm around the rounded plastic, and then patted her on the shoulder. "Alright, you're good to go. Try and get it in the basket."_

_Maddie stared, looking from the shiny red object in her hand, to the white basket a few metres away, and then back at her best friend. "Why?"_

_He frowned, glaring and pointed at the basket._

"_Alright, alright. Don't get your knickers in a knot." Pulling her arm back, she brought it forward at an odd angle. It was in the air for a whole half-second before it abruptly changed direction, hitting the ground on its side to roll away like a wheel. _

_They looked at it, then at it each other, and Sam sighed, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "I give up. Let's just go watch the TV."_

Her head shot back up, movement breaking her away from her musing, and her eyes widened as she narrowly avoided the disk once again; throwing herself roughly to the ground with a pained groan. Her ribs were aching, her shoulder throbbing sharply from the impact it had made with the glassy ground.

Slowly, she pulled herself to her feet, glaring at the other woman as she clutched her shoulder; disc hanging from her other hand. "Look, I don't know who's in charge here, but I want _out_!" She shouted the last word angrily, a loud smash making her jump and capturing both her and her opponent's attention.

Part of the flooring of another glass case had smashed, a pair of legs dangling from it and she squinted, trying to make out who it was. She had a hunch, but that hunch would entail her best friend on over a decade hanging precariously from a slippery, glass surface hundreds of feet above goodness knows what.

She hoped her hunch was incorrect.

A sigh of relief escaped her as he climbed back inside, though that relief turned to an exclamation of pain. In her distraction, Maddie's opponent had lunged forward, throwing the disc, and it swiped across Maddie's side; making the woman crumple down into a clumsy half-crouch.

With narrowed eyes and a grimace, she reached down to grasp her side; pulling her hand away to reveal bright red liquid coating her fingers. "Blood. Oh, that's blood. I'm bleeding. She threw a light-up Frisbee at me and now I'm bleeding…" She glared up at the other woman, anger flaring up and pushing her pain reception out the window. "What are you, nuts? What the hell is wrong with you? What is wrong with your people?" Maddie yelped when the disc was thrown again, throwing herself to the side. "Cut it out, lady! Geez!"

She pushed herself to her feet once again, cursing Sam and his father and anybody else who'd had a hand in her being in the Grid. It was like nothing she'd ever experienced before, and everything she'd never wanted to experience before.

She liked her desk job, she liked her safe little office with the nice window view of the university courtyard. She liked that the most exciting things that ever happened to her were things like discovering someone had stolen her parking bay in the university parking lot, or that the vending machine had swallowed her money and given her no drink in return.

The only things that were ever even slightly dangerous were usually directly related to Sam, and never had any physical impact on her personal being. And that was the way she preferred it. Safe, at a desk, writing or typing about something literary.

Nothing like what was going on at the moment.

This was crazy and so far out of her normal everyday happenings that it was making her head spin.

But she was there, whether she wanted to be or not, and her Amazonian-opponent seemed to be very keen on winning the game and beating her to a pulp.

Throwing caution to the wind, Maddie grasped her disc tightly in one hand, and then swung her arm around fiercely. The woman bent backwards, head nearly touching the ground, and dodged the disc; only for it to hit her in the back after she'd straightened.

The disc went straight through the woman's middle, her body separating into two pieces in what appeared to be a colourful burst of pixels and light. The remains, a glassy dust, hit the ground, and her opponent was no more.

Maddie stared, mouth agape, barely registering her disc bouncing around the place and landing a few feet away. "I can't believe that worked." She said, voice faint with disbelief. Then she felt her stomach lurch, face taking on a slightly green tinge as she gazed at the dust a few metres away. "Oh God, that worked! I just killed somebody!" She clutched the side of her head with her blood-free hand, mouth opening and closing. "I'm a murderer! They're going to imprison me, feed me awful food and make me sleep on a thin, lumpy mattress!"

And it would all be Sam's fault!

She stood there, trembling and panicking; her crazed mumblings interrupted only by the computerised voice. Maddie lifted her head to stare at the spinning screen far above her, and blinked at the meaningless words that span on past.

"Combatant 2 de-resolution, Combatant 5 victory."

"I guess that makes me Combatant 5…" She murmured absent-mindedly, swaying around as the ground a few feet ahead of her opened. Her vision was beginning to blur, her side aching something fierce and she whimpered as she clutched at it with one hand.

The glass beneath her feet began to tremble and then quake, the ceiling a few feet away opening to insert one of the boxes she'd previously been standing in; another armoured person stepping onto the platform opposite to her.

This time it was a man, and judging from what she could make out, he had at least a foot and hundred pounds on her tiny frame. She gulped backing away and clutching her bleeding side, her head moving from left to right over and over when the man pulled another of the light-discs from his back; moving into a fighting stance similar yet different to that of the woman from before.

She'd barely been able to avoid the earlier attacks when she'd been at full strength and without any injuries. Now that she was bleeding and in pain? Her chances had been reduced from 'you-might-barely-survive', skipped past 'no-way-in-hell' and moved right onto 'you're-dead'.

Maddie hadn't ever been injured so badly before. A few broken bones, a few bouts of bronchitis, but nothing so severe as a deep gash in her side. Her legs began to shake, her head aching and as she fell forward, she vaguely registered bright lights up ahead.

"I quit." She muttered, voice slurred. "You win…"

Then everything was dark.

* * *

She felt strange. Like she was floating in water, her limbs felt weightless, like her body was just drifting around under the surface. It was pleasant, and the cool numbness was so welcome a respite, that her mind didn't bother to beg the question; what was going on?

She smiled a small, completely relaxed smile, feeling the urge to stretch. When she tried to do so, however, she found that she could not. Her limbs no longer felt weightless, instead feeling as if they'd been pumped full of lead, and the numbness was no longer pleasant nor was it welcome. Her mind began to switch back on, rationality and logic pulling together within her consciousness to explain the odd sensations.

Paralysis.

She couldn't move, her extremities and torso completely frozen, and the smile that she now realised she'd never been able to make, twisted into a frightened frown as she began to struggle – or at least try to.

Her thoughts of writhing and panicked movements halted and her head would have tilted to the side could she move it as voices reached her ears; distorted and echoing as if she were again underwater.

'_What is the program's name?' _This one was harsh, but subtle about its harshness, as if the owner knew that by being out rightly frightening would get them nowhere but also knew that a quiet sharpness would be enough to intimidate.

'_It has no name.' _The other was smoother, but not at all pleasant, instead being slimy and strangely detached; like the speaker could care less about the subject of conversation but was continuing with it nonetheless.

'_Tell me its name!'_

'_The program fails to register in the database, sir.'_

'_Check it again.'_

'_I have, my lord, several times in fact. Whatever it is, it isn't a program.'_

'_Then it must be something else…' _She felt something on her head, something heavy and cold. _'She must be a user.'_

'_A user, my lord? Is that even possible, two users entering the Grid at the same time?'_

'_Do you doubt my word?' _The voice was threatening now, quiet and sharp as steel, and Maddie knew she would've been squirming and shying away could she move.

'_Not at all, sir, not at all. Merely remarking on the… unlikeliness of such an occurrence.' _Something jabbed her in the side, and it was excruciating, pain burning around from that one point all around her body. But try as she might, Maddie could make no sound and she was left within her mind to scream and cry out. _'What is this substance? It leaks from it's torso.'_

'_Blood.' _Satisfaction, grim and cruel, laced the tone now, and Maddie felt fear slide up and down her spine in an icy chill; caught there as she was unable to shiver. _'Human blood.'_

She knew they were speaking again, her ears could make that much out, but the pain was making her mind fuzzy and she couldn't find it in herself to concentrate on the words themselves. She fought to stay awake, to break away from the icy prison she found herself trapped within, but the agony became too much, and her already tenuous grasp of consciousness slipped away.

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**Author's Note: **There. Another chapter out.  
As always - leave a review and let me know what you thought, yeah?


	6. Chapter Five

**Abend – Chapter Five.  
By Ceville.**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Save for Maddie.

**Author's Note: **Next chapter done! Sorry about the slight lateness, I've been rushing around trying to sort out my uni-enrolment. It's mostly over and done with though, so hopefully things will calm down. Now the vote was supposed to have finished by the time this one was up, but due to the fact I had anonymous reviews allowed, I get the feeling some readers were voting more than once. Which means it'd be unfair for me to choose either pairing just yet.  
I've disabled anonymous reviews, so I'm going to ask that _**ALL **_of you vote one last time. It'll decide the pairing for sure. I'm sorry I've gotta do this, but I really want it to be fair, y'know?

Now I'm not entirely happy with this chapter. I feel like I screwed up with Rinzler. But at least there's interaction between him and Maddie for once, right?

* * *

When someone wakes up, they usually take varying amounts of time to _really _wake up. The grogginess and drowsiness that plagues one's mind just after a long period of rest is usually so potent that a person doesn't even know they're awake until it's passed. It can be a time-consuming task, re-joining the land of the living, and for good reason.

At that point and time, however, Maddie was afforded no such privilege, and instead of slowing regaining consciousness, she found herself returning with a deep gasp and a snapping of her spine.

Her back arched and she coughed, the cough turning into a groan as she reached down with an arm to clutch at her side. It hurt. It hurt _a lot_. But when she lifted her hand, expecting to see it coated with a deep, garnet-red, she found a perfectly clean extremity – her nails had even been tended to, and the hang-nails that usually adorned a few of her fingers were gone.

She wiggled the fingers around experimentally, a deep recess of her mind registering that her gloves were gone, and when she looked down at her side, that same recess pointed out that it was bare and an uncomfortable portion of skin was visible. The thought flew right out of her mind, categorised as being inconsequential at that moment as she frantically searched for a wound her memory told her should be there.

"Wha…" She started, eyebrows drawing together as she stared at the smooth albeit pale skin of her abdomen. She knew there had been a wound there, firstly because the area hurt, but the surface showed absoloutely no mark nor tarnish – no evidence of the injury remained and it was causing her befuddled brain much strife.

Glaring, she shivered at the coldness of the room, and the thought that had been so carelessly thrown from her mind, returned. Bold and bright and embarrassingly forefront as she realised her state of dress. Or undress, rather. Yelping she gazed down at the scraps of material covering her unmentionables, a thick strip of some plastic-spandex hybrid covered her upper torso, and strangely designed underwear of the same material covered all that needed to be covered on her bottom half.

"Oh, it isn't enough that they nearly kill me, but now they've stripped me?" She muttered, thoroughly outraged by her circumstances. Maddie lifted her head, blinking at the futuristic nature of her surroundings.

She was in a room that was neither small nor large, the walls and floors were dark but with those same zigzagging patterns – only these ones were orange instead of blue. Frowning, she tilted her head as she examined them. They reminded her of circuit boards almost, though she couldn't be sure, she'd been too busy reading when Sam had tried to explain the internal workings of a computer to her.

That had gone about as well as the Frisbee attempt.

Carefully, Maddie swung her legs over the side of the blank platform she'd been lying on, standing up on slightly numb and wobbly legs. Her eyes immediately honed in on a set of objects on the wall, which resembled those the women had opened to suit her up before the disc fights.

Expression brightening at the thought of clothes, she began tiptoeing over, afraid that being too loud might alert unscrupulous character to her conscious state of mind. When she was nary a foot or two away, the door to her right made a loud '_whoosh'_ noise and lifted up, revealing one of the beautiful women from before; flanked by three tall men, all suited in the dark, orange-accented armour. "I see you've awakened." Her voice was distorted and seemed to echo; it made Maddie feel uncomfortable, though she tried not to show it. "And I see you've discovered where the garments are kept. Perhaps there is hope for you yet."

Maddie blinked, unsure of how to respond to that, at least in a polite manner anyway. She didn't want to annoy the woman who appeared to be in charge of the creepy, shadow-Stig-look-alikes.

The woman stared and then rolled her eyes, but just barely. She walked over, in very high heels that made Maddie wince just to look at them, and pressed her hand against the side of the rack. It descended, and she began to suit Maddie up just as the other women had done. "CLU will be pleased."

"CLU?" Maddie repeated quietly, more to herself than anyone else, as bracers were added to her wardrobe. "Who's CLU?"

"All in good time, user." The woman spoke knowingly, her eerie eyes seeming to see more than Maddie's could. She walked back to the rack, although Maddie thought it looked more like gliding, picking up the largest piece of armour – pressing it to Maddie's chest. It made a whirring sound and then seemed to extend, moulding itself to her body. "How are you feeling?"

"Shouldn't you be asking if my processors are functioning properly or something?"

"We are programs, not automated machines." A light disc was pressed to her back, and she shuddered at the same chill that shot up and down her spine.

Maddie straightened at that, tilting her head. "Really?" She frowned thoughtfully, leaning her elbow on her knee and her chin in the palm of her hand. "I guess that makes sense. This is some sort of super computer world, right?" Her eyes widened momentarily. "Oh! What's your name?"

"I am one of the SIREN programs."

"Yeah, but what's your _name_?"

A small smile quirked the woman's full lips, softening her icy features. "My designation is CU81C." She bowed her head slightly, the movement somehow embarrassed. "My sisters call me Cubic."

"Well, I'm Maddie." The human girl smiled widely, holding her hand out, only to falter as Cubic stared at the outstretched limb.

"Is this a custom for you users?"

"Uhh, yeah. Usually. Apparently it's not one here though." She shrugged, about to pull her hand back, but Cubic's hand darted out to grip hers; shaking it firmly but clumsily.

"Was that the appropriate response to the custom?"

"I guess so." Maddie scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, releasing a breath through her nose. "So… Am I a prisoner or something?"

"No, not at all. You're a guest of Lord CLU. He wishes for you to remain here until he summons you." She blinked, and then the traces of warmth that had been beginning to appear in her eyes were replaced with an icy indifference. "He requested I inform him of your awakening as soon as possible." She turned to gaze at the tallest of the three men that had entered with her, smiling coyly. "Watch her, Rinzler."

And with that, they exited the room, leaving a thoroughly confused and bemused Madison O'Callaghan.

'Rinzler', as the woman had called him, remained where he'd been the entire time; standing beside the door with his big arms folded across his broad chest. She knew he could probably snap her in half if he wanted just by looking at him, and the thought made her gulp nervously and wring her hands together.

After five minutes of silence –save for the strange humming of his suit- that was awkward for her, and goodness-knows-what to him, Maddie cleared her throat. He didn't move and her eyebrows drew together, her nose scrunching together in the middle as she glared; self-preservation kicking in seconds later, and plastering a wary smile on her face.

"So… You're… Rinzler, right?" He didn't answer. "I'm Madison." No answer. "Maddie for short." When he failed to answer a third time, she lifted a hand to scratch the back of her suit-clad neck; the movement awkward and sheepish in every way. "You're not much of a talker are you?"

The purring and humming filled the room, and though it was strangely comforting on a musical-level, it made Maddie nervous. She'd never been good meeting new people, and it was even worse when the new people were as stoic and unresponsive as Rinzler. If she had to hazard a guess, Maddie would bet that she received more of a response from Sam's dog when she talked to him.

She sighed, walking over to jump up onto the bed; legs swinging idly back and forth as she looked around the room. It really looked like something out of a science-fiction film. Everything was clean and glowing and there was nothing in there that resembled anything of the medical technology she knew of in her world.

However, as interesting as it was, there was only so much entertainment that could be found with simply _looking _at things. And something told Maddie that if she even _thought _about touching anything, that Rinzler would put a stop to it quicker then she could blink.

Gripping the edge of the bed-slash-platform, she tapped her fingers against it, humming quietly under her breath to try and break the purr-filled absence of conversation that seemed to have descended upon the room. It was something of a lullaby, and she knew she was jumbling up the tune completely, being the tone-deaf girl that she was, but she distinctly remembered her grandmother singing it to both she and her sister.

It'd calmed them down then, helping them to sleep, and even with parts of it mixed and matched as she hummed it, Maddie felt herself relaxing, if just a little bit.

To her great surprise, Rinzler seemed to react to the tune, his head tilting _ever_ so slightly and she mimicked the movement, her humming coming to a halt. When she blinked, his head was straight once again, and she found herself wondering whether she'd imagined the whole thing.

Shortly after which she wondered to herself why him tilting his head to the side was such a big deal in the first place. She'd only known the man for a grand total of ten or so minutes, but she'd already deduced some things about him. He was a man of few words, whether due to orders, personality or something else was beyond her, and he seemed to only take action when he was either told to or he needed to.

That and he was completely unnerving and intimidating.

She felt squeamish being in the same room as him. It felt like she'd been sent to the principal's office, and she was sitting in front of that principal, waited to have her head ripped off and her innards ripped out. And not in that exact order either.

Maddie lifted a hand to scratch her arm, eyes downcast, expression thoughtful. Her mouth was dry, her throat itchy, and she lifted her gaze to look at the man's helmet. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to drink would you? I feel like I've had cotton wool balls stuck in my mouth. Gah." She stuck her tongue out disdainfully, trying to get rid of the dryness, and while she was preoccupied with that, it seemed that Rinzler had somehow pulled a glass of fluid out of goodness-knows-where.

She stared at the glass with wide eyes, the gloved hand holding it nearly encompassing the entire object itself, and when she reached up to take it; she realised just how breakable she must seem to him. Her hand had to be at least _half _the size of his, and her wrist seemed like a tiny-little twig.

The realisation of how much danger she was really in made her nervousness crop up again, and she both felt and saw the result of it as her hands began to shake; the only thing keeping the glass steady being his hand.

She snatched the glass away, hanging her head to take deep gulps; only to find the glass had been snatched away. Blinking, she glared at him half-heartedly after realizing he'd snatched it away before she could even drink a quarter of it.

Madison reached for the glass, only for him to pull it out of her reach. Scowling, she reached out further, only for him to take a step back. After a few minutes of her trying to take the glass and him not letting her, she stomped one of her feet, pointing at him with a fierce glare on her face. "Okay, what is your problem, dude?" She spat angrily. "Just let me have a drink."

He shook his head just slightly, and then lifted the glass slowly. He made slow motions of tilting the glass, obviously trying to convey something.

Something that eluded her completely, evident by the flat, blank stare she gave him.

"What? What does that mean?" He tilted the glass slowly, lifting it back up, and after a few more attempts, she lifted her hands up; eyes wide. "Oh! You want me to drink it slowly?" A nod was given, somehow exasperated in nature, and the glass was finally handed over. Obediently, she took slow, steady sips, and when she was done, the glass was taken away and disposed of.

The conversation, though one-sided, hit a lull, and Maddie began to kick her legs backwards and forwards once again. She wondered about the person the blunt woman had mentioned. CLU, she'd called them. Maddie had no idea whether the person was a man or a woman, or if the person was even a person.

She couldn't tell. Not in the Grid. The world was digital, made of numbers and codes, something that had never seemed real to her, not to a person of letters and words. Yet there she was. Inside the digital world. A world she now had no trouble believing was real.

It all seemed too precise, too detailed to be a dream or a hallucination. And the pain she'd felt… There was no way that hadn't been real. Her lips thinned into a frown, her hand clutching at her side as she thought. Everything was muddled up and her mind couldn't make sense of it.

And at that moment, that was the one thing she couldn't stand.

Another sigh escaped her lips, this one far more melancholy and gloomy than the last. She couldn't help but be a little down, she'd been separated from Sam and he'd been not only her source of comfort and familiarity but perhaps the only way of figuring things out. Now that he was gone, she was screwed.

Moments after thinking this, she scowled, grabbing her head guiltily. That was the only reason she wanted Sam back? She wasn't worried about him, or where he'd gone, or whether he'd made it out of the arenas okay? "I'm a terrible person…" She muttered dejectedly, staring at her own lap. Worrying about a way home over Sam, what kind of best friend was she?

She was torn from her self-deprecating thoughts by the sound of the door opening, and she lifted her head, expecting to see the woman from before. Only that woman wasn't there. In her place, was a strangely dressed man, bald with dark, kohl-rimmed eyes. There was some sort of strange see-through visor on his head, and Madison blinked as she took his strange appearance in.

A frightened whimper escaped her at the man's next few words, and not just because of the words, but because she recognised the voice that spoke them. It was slimy and detached and belonged to a person who couldn't care less about what they were doing, as long as it benefited them somewhat. One of the voices she'd heard whilst paralysed and wounded.

"Lord CLU will see you now." He spoke, apparently taking pleasure in her fright, and he gestured to the door. Nervously, she hopped to her feet and shuffled her way over, head down and eyes on her feet as she walked past the man. "You are to follow, Rinzler."

And as the two of them practically herded her down halls and through doorways, Madison's shaking increased.

She had a bad feeling about where they were going, and she had a bad feeling about 'CLU'.

* * *

**Author's Note: **DONE! I hope it was okay. Could you guys let me know what you thought of Rinzler? Any advice on his mannerisms and lack of speech would be _amazing_.  
Thanks for reading – I hope to hear from you in a review!


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